| Start-up Stories: Liz Jackson - Going great guns
Despite losing her sight at the age of 26, Liz Jackson has grown Great Guns Marketing from a company run from her lounge to one employing 130 people and turning over 2.5m a year. She spoke to Dan Martin about the secrets behind her success. Liz Jackson's entrance into the world of work began when she was 17. She admits she wasn't particularly academic and after signing up for exam retakes at her local college decided that formal education wasn't for her. Jackson opted for signing up to a YTS scheme as a office junior. It proved to be a good decision. After working in various areas of the business, Jackson was eventually moved to the telemarketing department from where she worked her way up and eventually became responsible for training telemarketers in the UK and US. But after eight years with the company, Jackson decided it was time to move on.
Cellphones are an advertiser's gold mine, but will consumers dig it?
This is precisely why I don't have a cell phone. The convenience of reaching people instantaneously does not outweigh the infringement of personal freedom when people - mostly advertizers - want to reach me instantaneously. It's my life, I'LL decide who can talk to me and when. Having a cellphone gives that control to everybody else.
I'm almost ready to lose my land line as well, mostly because of intrusive telemarketing. Yet again, mass media ruins another otherwise useful medium...
And, no I'm not a Luddite - I work in cutting edge IT. Doesn't mean I'm a sucker for iAdvertizing too. It's just about relinquishing personal control. I prefer to use IT to my own advantage, not to the advantage of advertizers who think of every one of us as just a bunch of iSchmucks, ready to mined and pillaged.
Cell phone numbers up for sale
Three U.S. senators are pushing a bill to protect more than 250 million consumers from having their cell phone numbers listed in a 411 directory similar to directories available for residential phone numbers.Prospects of a cellular phone directory have raised fears about a flood of telemarketing via wireless calls and text messaging. While the Federal Communications Commission says those fears are unfounded, there are other privacy concerns at stake.The wireless industry says it has no intention of creating such a directory, although it once did plan to do so.But the bipartisan authors of the Wireless 411 Privacy Act say they dont want to take any chances, and they note that numbers are already available in at least one online directory service that has 90 million cell phone records.I think this is something we want to nip in the bud and say, You wanted to do this, and now you dont.
Omaha Steaks Responds to Privacy Complaint
Last week, I raked Omaha Steaks over the coals as a particularly annoying example of the continuing poor privacy practices of many Web sites. Well, I have to give the company credit for listening at least a little. A few hours ago, I got a letter via UPS to my doorstep from Omaha Steaks CEO Bruce Simon. He apologized for my receiving repeated, unwanted telemarketing calls and apparently took me off the company's list. (He also said the company is sending me a complimentary box of filet mignon. While I appreciate the sentiment, journalistic scruples will require me to decline the shipment. So if it hasn't been sent out, Mr. Simon, please hold the steaks.) Still, while it's good that the company at least offers an opt-out alternative for emails and removes customers from telemarketing lists on request, I don't think that's good enough in this day and age of relentless marketing pitches.
Firms to pay $56,000 to settle calling suit
Two out-of-state corporations have agreed to pay $ 56, 000 into the Arkansas Attorney General's Consumer Education and Enforcement Fund to settle a lawsuit accusing them of telemarketing vacations to Arkansans on the national Do Not Call registry. A consent agreement signed by assistant Arkansas attorney general Jean Block and Kelly McNulty, local counsel for Richard King, who owns Berkshire Getaways of Massachusetts and Data King Corp. of New York, was filed Wednesday in federal court in Little Rock. U. S. District Judge James Moody signed the order Thursday, making it official. The attorney general's office, then led by Mike Beebe, the current governor, filed the lawsuit in November 2006. It alleged that since Jan. 1, 2005, Berkshire had placed more than 100, 000 telephone calls to Arkansas consumers, at least 500 of whom had listed their numbers on the national registry.
Directory of Top Computer Executives - Canada Edition
The Canada Edition of the Directory includes information on more than 8,000 key executives in over 4,500 companies in all of the Canadian provinces. Because the Directory lists vital information for each listed installation, you can zero in on your best prospects. The availability of multiple target marketing methods will make your marketing program more efficient and effective. Names and titles - complete names, titles, and department names of key decision makers: the top computer executives and managers who oversee operations, application programming, technical support, data communications, and microcomputers. Contact information - company name, division or subsidiary name, complete mailing address, mail stops, and telephone numbers will make your direct mail campaigns and telemarketing efforts more successful than ever before.
Don’t call my cell phone, lawmaker demands
Wisconsin cracked down on telemarketers on two fronts Wednesday. A bill preventing telemarketers from using cell phone numbers advanced in the state Legislature and the Department of Justice began a lawsuit against a telemarketing company for violating state restrictions. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, would make cell phone numbers eligible for the statewide No Call List, which previously was open only to landlines. “People don't want their cell phones called by telemarketers, that's the bottom line," said Julie Laundrie, spokesperson for Erpenbach. The bill also increased the maximum fine per violation from $100 to $1,000. Erpenbach's bill passed the Joint Committee on Finance with a few minor changes, including one that keeps small businesses from adding their numbers to the list.
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